Ghosts of existence
by Hecate28
Summary: Sequel to Memories. What happens when Sammie is attacked by an alien parasite and is haunted by ghosts of her past?
1. Are we going on an adventure?

A/N: I don't own any of the rights to Torchwood

A tall, brown haired sixteen year old walked slowly across Cardiff bay, pausing occasionally to adjust the strap of her heavy school bag. She flicked her long hair out of her eyes and smiled as she turned the corner and saw a man in an old blue long coat

"You wouldn't be checking up on me would you?" she teased

"As if Sammie" he laughed

"Ah so you're just hanging around here enjoying the view like you do everyday then Jack?"

"Exactly, now come on" he said giving her a gentle push on the back. As they walked Jack looked down at Sammie he couldn't help but grin, it was two moths since he had found his daughter and now she it was as if she had always been a part of the torchwood institute. As they walked into the hub the hustle and bustle of Torchwood life hit them. Owen was down in the medical bay doing an autopsy on the latest weevil victim, Toshiko was running a scan on some alien device they had dragged up from the bay a few days ago and Gwen was talking with Ianto about the best way to cover up the latest alien sighting by the public.

"Hey trouble" Owen grinned looking up from his work using a nickname which he knew annoyed Sammie

"Hey and can you not think of another inventive nickname?" she said rolling her eyes

"No this one suits you" Owen said laughing at the dirty look Sammie shot his way

"Don't you have any homework to do?" Jack said smiling at the banter going on before him

"Indeed I do" said Sammie dodging a latex glove which Owen had flicked her way and after making a rude gesture at Owen she left the main hub

"Do you have to tease her like that?" Toshiko said sighing at Owen

"It's so fun to wind her up" Owen grinned arrogantly

"Anyway moving swiftly on" Jack said "Have you found out anymore about that energy surge we spotted earlier"

"Not much, but we know it's defiantly alien and it's coming for one specific place" said Toshiko passing some papers over to Jack

"So where's it coming from?" he said frowning

"From the loading bays down by the docks, it's pretty much deserted down there so that rules out human activity and the reading is off the scale" Toshiko continued

"So what's the plan?" Ianto said

"We go and check it out, I don't like having trouble on my patch" Jack said picking up his coat

"Oooh are we going on an adventure?" Sammie said walking into the main hub

"We?" Jack said raising an eyebrow

"Oh please let me come you never let me do anything fun" she said pouting playfully

"We let you come on that weevil hunt" said Owen

"Yeah only so you could use me as bait" Sammie said sticking her tongue out "Please can I come Jack, I've done all my homework and I have nothing else to do"

"I don't know…" and Sammie walked up to Jack and made puppy eyes at him

"You know that never works on me" he said firmly

"Please, I'll be good and do everything you say"

"Ok fine but you stay with us at all times understood?"

"Yes sir!" Sammie said with a mock salute

"Less of the mouth please" Jack said laughing and they left the hub.

When they got to the docks it had started to rain giving the place an eerie feel

"This place is creepy" Sammie said shivering

"Scared?" Owen said grinning

"No!" she said defensively pulling her jacket closer to her body

"Ok lets get this over with" Jack said "Owen and Toshiko you check round the back, Ianto and Gwen you check the loading bays over there" he said gesturing over to a far corner "And you" he said talking to Sammie "Stick right beside me where I can see you at all times"

"Ok" a chorus of voices replied

As the team dispersed Sammie followed Jack keeping close to him, they went to some lockup's which looked abandoned, Sammie tried to open them but they were locked

"Little help of here" she said and Jack knelt down to examine the locks, after fiddling around with locks for a few seconds the lock fell of and fell to the ground with a clunk

"How did you do that?" Sammie said looking shocked

"An old friend taught me that" he said grinning

"Who?"

"Houdini"

"You knew Houdini?" she said frowning

"Yeah we dated for a while, he's really immature!"

"You know I never know when you're joking" she said shaking her head and Jack laughed

"Come on let's go and find this energy source" he said pushing up the metal door

The two of them entered the damp container and Sammie flicked on her torch as did Jack, they searched around for a bit but found nothing except a few old wooden pallets and sheets of tarpaulin scattered about. Suddenly the metal door slammed down behind them and Sammie's torch went out

"Jack!" Sammie screamed "Jack!"

"Hey, I'm over here" he said flicking on his torch and touching her hand gently "You ok?"

"No not really" she said looking pale

"It seems like we might have found what we're looking for" Jack said gesturing to a glowing light in the corner, he took her hand "Come on" he said gently

As they walked over to the light Jack could feel Sammie shaking next to him "Jack, I'm scared" she said in a voice that was barely above a whisper

Jack knelt down next to the glowing object and picked it up "This makes no sense" he frowned

"What is it?"

"An alien charge cell, it's like a mobile phone charger"

"What's it doing here?"

"We've been tricked so now what we're going to do is get out of here as fast as we can" he said grabbing her hand and pulling her along after him as he sprinted to the door, he pushed some button on his wrist strap and the door flung open and they both ran out into the cool air

"You ok?" he said turning to Sammie

"I think so" she said shivering

"Let's get back to the SUV" he said putting out a message on the intercom to the others

Sammie and Jack were nearly back at the SUV when she cried out in pain

"What happened?" he said turning towards her

"Something just bit me" she said clutching the side of her neck

"Let me see" he said brushing her hair away "There's no mark" he said frowning but by this time all the others had gotten back and soon Sammie had forgotten all about it.

When they got back to the hub, the team set about there day to day tasks but Sammie just stood there in the middle of the hub

"Are you ok?" Ianto said gently

"I feel a bit light headed" she said grabbing onto his arm

"Owen!" Ianto called as he sat Sammie down on a chair

Owen ran up to the pair and crouched down in front of Sammie

"Sammie look at me" he said as he checked her pulse "Your pulse is a bit weak and I need you to stay with me"

"I feel sleepy" she murmured

"Stay with me Sammie" he said getting anxious as the colour drained out of her face

All of a sudden Sammie lurched forward and coughed up blood which splattered down her front

"Shit!" Owen cried "Sammie, look at me" he said with a wild fear in his eyes

But Sammie passed out and her head hit the floor with a considerable amount of force

"Help me get her over to the medical bay" Owen said to Ianto

"What happened?" Jack said running over to them

"She passed out" Owen said setting her down on the metal table "Do you know what could have caused this?"

"She said she thought something had bitten her earlier but there was no mark" Jack said with fear creeping into his voice

"It could be some type of parasite then" Owen said looking worried

"You have to help her" Jack said grabbing Owens' arm and he nodded he knew how much Sammie meant to Jack, how much she meant to everyone

Jack looked down at his helpless daughter and held her hand "Stay with me Sammie" he said softly


	2. What happened?

"Sammie can you hear me?" Jack was sitting beside Sammie who was lying on the medical table in the hub

"Jack give her some time, whatever that thing was really knocked her for six" Owen said gently

"Have you worked out what that thing was yet?" Jack said running his hands across his face

"Not yet but I know it was some parasite"

"I should have realised sooner, she said she felt something bite her but I couldn't see anything. This is all my fault"

"Jack you can't blame yourself, it all happened so fast and how were you to know what was going to happen"

"I'm responsible for her; I should have been there for her"

"There was nothing you could have done but anyway she's safe now"

"How do you know, she still unconscious and you don't even know what hurt her"

At that point Sammie murmured and her eyes slowly began to open

"Sammie?" Jack said looking down at her as he grasped her hand

"Jack, where am I?"

"Back in the hub" he said gently stroking her forehead

"What happened?"

"When we got back you passed out" Owen said checking her pulse "How do you feel?"

"Like a stampede of horses ran over me, my head is pounding"

"You hit your head pretty hard when you came down; you probably have a light concussion"

"Lucky me" she murmured trying to sit up

"Whoa you're not going anywhere" Jack said gently pushing her back down

"Jack's right it's a strict regime of rest, relaxation and bed rest for you" Owen said softly but firmly

"But what about school?"

"It's half-term remember?"

"Oh yeah….why didn't I know that?"

"It's the concussion it's natural to feel a bit disorientated" Owen said

"Anyway lets get you ton your room, you've had one hell of a day and you need to rest" Jack said gently helping her up and with Owens aid they took her slowly and gently to her room so she could recuperate

A few hours later Owen came in to check on Sammie who blearily opened an eye and smiled

"Hey trouble" he said smiling

"Owen…" she began

"I know I know you don't like the nickname but tough because your stuck with it" he said grinning

Sammie sat up and tucked her legs beneath her as Owen took her vital signs

"You seem to have been quite lucky, it looks like there's been no after effects" he said "Are you ok?" he continued as he looked at Sammie who had turned pale

"If I'm so ok then why can I see my mother standing right in front of me" she gasped

But when Owen turned around there was no one.


	3. Mum?

"Sammie you've had a really stressful day are you sure you didn't imagine it?" Ianto said

"I'm not going mad, I know what I saw" she blurted out through streams of tears "She was just standing there in front of me, you believe me don't you?" she said to Jack who was cuddling her in his arms trying to console her.

It was twenty minutes since they had heard Sammie scream and found her in hysteric state and Jack had spent all of those twenty minutes trying to calm her down

"I believe you" he said pulling her closer, he looked over her head and shoot a worried look to Owen

After a while Sammie had finally calmed down and the team left her to sleep but as they entered the main hub Jack pulled Owen to one side

"I need you to keep checking up on her every twenty minutes or so, do all the medical check"

"Do you believe her?" Owen said biting his lip

"That she saw her dead mother standing in front of her, normally I would think this is her wild imagination but you saw the state of her"

"But I didn't see anything" Owen said looking confused "When I turned around there was nothing there"

"I know, that's the thing that worries me" Jack said frowning

Twenty minutes later Owen went back to check on Sammie who was sitting on her bed hugging her knees, he slowly walked towards her and sat down next to her

"I'm not mad" she said defensively

"I know" he smiled

"Then why don't you believe me?" she shouted

"Think about what you're saying" he said checking her pulse "You said you saw your dead mother but when I turned around there was nothing, we've checked the CCTV and there's no one but me and you in the room at the time"

"I'm not making this up!" she yelled

"Calm down" Owen soothed "We can talk about this in the morning but right no you need to get some sleep ok?"

"How can I sleep when I just saw my dead mother?" she screamed bursting into tears

In a flash Jack came into the room "Owen don't worry, I'll take it from here" he said and Owen left the room

"I know what I saw Jack!"

"And I believe you but there's nothing you can do about it now, you need to rest you've been through a lot today" he said looking concerned

"But…"

"No buts you heard what Owen said earlier, bed rest for you young lady" he said with a gentle smile "So please try and get some rest ok?"

"Ok fine but I'm not going mad" she said as she felt her eyes close with tiredness

As her head hit the pillow Jack felt a Wave of relief rush over him, she was safe now

"Sleep well little one" he said gently before leaving the room

The next morning Sammie was awoken her alarm clock and she groaned as she stuck her arm out trying to turn it off

"Stupid thing" she grumbled as she missed it and it continued to beep

When she finally got it to cease beeping, she sat up in her bed and brushed her hair out of her eyes and when she looked up she nearly fell out of bed in shock.

There in front of her stood a woman with long brown hair flowing round her shoulders, she had green eyes and a pretty smile but all the same her face looked worried as she stared at Sammie

"Mum…" she said as her eyes grew wide with fear and as she went to scream the figure in front of her put a ghostly finger to her lips to hush her

"This can't be happening; you're dead, I saw your corpse, how can you be alive?"

The figure said nothing but floated over to her, Sammie shivered as the figure got closer

"Why are you here?" she said in a loud whisper "Talk to me"

As the figure got closer and closer to her Sammie screwed up her eyes because she knew in her head that this couldn't be real but in her heart she half hoped that it was but when she opened them again the figure was gone

"Mum?" Sammie called jumping out of bed "Mum?"

"Sammie?" Jack said walking into the room "What's going on, I heard you shouting"

"Don't you ever knock" she growled and she rolled her eyes as he knocked on the door "A bit late now" she said shaking her head

"How do you feel today?"

"Fine"

"Really?"

"Yes can you please stop fussing?"

"I'm your dad, I'm meant to be worried about you, and anyway what were you shouting about?"

"Nothing"

"I heard you yell mum"

"I saw her again Jack, she was standing right there" she said pointing

"Oh Sammie…"

"Why won't you believe me?"

"Think logically about this, you say you saw your mum who you miss lots and I know you do Sammie because you call out for her in your sleep every night so don't you think whatever it was you saw might not be your mother but you just want it to be so badly that you think you saw her" Jack said gently

"I know what I saw"

"Sammie just think about it" Jack said as he left the room

As Sammie turned around and flicked her hair out of her eyes, she saw the figure again standing where Jack had just been

"Mum" she cried "I knew I wasn't going mad, Jack!" she called but the figure reached out and grabbed her wrist to stop her shouting, the grasp was ice cold and Sammie cried out in pain

Jack ran into the room at the sound of her screaming but all he saw was Sammie standing there rubbing her worst

"Are you ok?" he said reaching out for her

"Jack, if whatever I saw wasn't real then how did this happen?" she said holding out her wrist which had thin lines of blood trickling down it, the shape of the cuts was as if someone had grabbed her to silence her. Jack pulled Sammie closer to him and called out to Owen

"It's going to be ok" he soothed as he held the young girl tight but as he did he felt a shiver crawl all over him like someone had just walked through him


	4. What did you see?

"How is she

"How is she?" Jack said walking over to the medical bay where Owen was taking some of Sammie's vitals

"She's ok, I patched her up but she's really unsettled. I had to give her a sedative to calm her down" Owen said looking down at Sammie who lay on the examination table," How did this happen Jack?"

"I don't know one minute she was fine and the next minute I come back in the room and her wrists are bleeding and she's screaming hysterically about seeing ghosts"

"Those were deep cuts Jack, really deep"

"Do you think she did this to herself?"

"She might have done, we've only really known her two months and she might have had a history of self harm or this could just be her way of coping with things" Owen said scratching his head in thought

Back on the table Sammie twitched as the sedative slowly wore off. As she came back to consciousness the reality of the situation hit her and she started to panic

"Sammie, Sammie look at me" Jack said sitting in front of her and holding her hands "Take deep breaths Sammie" and a few minutes later Sammie had calmed down again and was back to a normal state

"How're you feeling?" Owen said checking the dressings on her wrists

"A bit dizzy" she said trying to focus on Owen

"You lost a lot of blood" he said "And you must be pretty tired you've had one hell of a last couple of days"

"Sammie how did this happen?" Jack said sitting down next to her

"After you went I saw my mum again and when I called out to you she grabbed me and when she let go this happened" she said pointing to her wrists

"But we talked about this before remember?"

"But she was really there Jack and she did this!"

"Sammie if you're not coping with something in your life you can always talk to one of us, you don't have to suffer in silence"

"Do you think I did this to myself?" she cried "She was there and she grabbed me, Jack you must of felt something?"

"I….I might of felt a shiver but that doesn't mean anything"

"Why won't you believe me" she said pulling away from Jack

"Sammie I did the autopsy on your mum and she's in the cold storage now and you know she is because you were there when I put her in there" Owen said trying to calm her down once more "So how can you be seeing her, think about his logically it makes no sense"

"But…but" Sammie stuttered

"Come on I know you miss your mum but what you saw wasn't real, I know you want her back but she's gone and you have to try and move on" Jack said kindly

Sammie stood up angrily and pulled away from Jack but stood frozen to the spot as if she could see something. Before Owen or Jack could react she fell to the floor and smacked her head leaving a pool of blood flowing from the point of impact.

As Jack and Owen ran over to her, Jack could have sworn he saw a woman with brown hair and green eyes out of the corner of his eye with a nasty grin on her face.


	5. The key to it all?

"Tosh have you got the readings from the hub yet" Ianto asked as he passed her a cup of tea

"Thanks and yes i'm just pulling them up now" she said clicking away on her mouse

"How's Sammie?" Gwen said sitting down next to them

"She's still unconcious, Owen's keeping an eye on her and Jack hasn't left her side"

"There we go this is the normal level of activity in the hub which accounts for everything down in the cells" Toshiko said pointing to a a short wiggly line "And this is the readings we got when Sammie..." but she couldn't finsh her sentance but just pointed to an erratic line which spayed across the screen

"What could have caused these readings?" Gwen asked

"Somthing strong becasue look here" Toshiko said as she pulled up the CCTV of the hub "Sammie turns to go and then she just freezes on the spot and she falls byt the way she falls it's like someone has come up and hit her from behind but there's no one..."

"...Only a surge on energy" Jack's voice came from behind them and they all turned around.

Jack was looking pale and drawn. His eyes which were usually sparkling were dull and lifeless. He had bags under his eyes from sitting up all night holding Sammie's hand willing her just to open those piercing green eyes and he wanted to feel her warm breath again but all he had was a weak pulse and a small bleep from the monitor Owen had set up to keep track of her body reactions

"Why are you back up here?" Gwen asked

"Owen said i should get some rest..." Jack murmured

"Jack come on i'll make you a cup of tea" Ianto said as he led him to his office

"Poor guy" Gwen murmured

"What do you think he'll do if she doesn't..."

Gwen cut in "Don't even think about it Tosh, don't even think about it"

Back in the medical bay Owen was checking the monitors to see if Sammie's condition had improved. But it was still the same. No matter what he tried she just stayed the same. Her pulse was weak but still there. She was hanging on but barely.Owen sat down on the stool where Jack had been sitting before he'd sent him away to get some rest. Owen picked up her hand and held it in his

"Come on Sammie" he said "Just open your eyes or somthing so we know you're ok. We need you back with us. Jack needs you, he's been going out of his mind without you. We want you back with us, we want to hear your bad jokes and i need someone to annoy" he laughed half-heartedly "Come back to us soon Sammie, i know you're in there somewhere but we need you to come back to us" but there was no response.

The young girl just layed there like she had when Owen and Jack had placed her there after she had fallen. Owen remembered all the blood that was pouring from her head. She had lost conciousness almost immediatly and Jack had sat by her side from that moment on. He guessed he felt angry about the argument they'd had moments before she fell.

Owen stood up and went to the head of the medical table. He stroked her brown hair gently avoiding the head wound that had eventually stopped bleeding but the blood had made her hair stick to her face in a bloody mess. "Come back to us Sammie" he whispered

In Jack's office,Ianto was sitting down with Jack holding his hand tightly "It's going to be ok Jack" he said as Jack rested his head on Ianto's shoulder

"I can't loose her" Jack kept repeating and Ianto stroked his head softly

"She'll be back laughing before you know it"

"How can you know that" Jack said the tears running down his face

"Because that girl is a fighter and she's strong and she wouldn't desert you Jack"

"But she's just lying there and there's nothing i can do"

"You can help her...did she say anything before she fell?"

Jack shook his head "I saw a woman though,it looked a bit like Emma" Ianto tensed at the name of a past lover "But it can't have been, it looked demonic like and it seems to be intent on hurting Sammie" Jack sobbed

Ianto relaxed now "Well at least we sort of know what we're dealing with"

"How?"

"Well somthing seems to be after Sammie and after what happened at the docks..."

"Where she said she thought somthing had bitten her which could have been an alien pariste and what if...no...it couldn't"

"What Jack?"

"Well normally an alien parasite would only affect a human by making them think they see things but since Sammie came back from the dead last time it could have mixed with the memory ability she has and the energy that she channels got mixed up with the parasite and instead of making her think she see's things, she actually brought something to this world which has latched on to her memories and brought it out in a demonic form, a sort of existing ghost" Jack said in one breath

"A form that feeds on pain and misery"

"Yeah" Jack said looking up at Ianto

"So it would have an adverse reaction to love?"

"Yeah" Jack said catching on

"Well then..." Ianto smiled as he kissed Jack gently on the lips "We have some catching up to do"

Jack and Ianto embraced in a kiss which took away some of the pain Jack was feeling. The kiss was long and tender. With more energy than eiter of them had experienced

Back in the medical bay Owen was running some more tests on Sammie when suddenly she sat bolt upright and let out a long gasp. Owen jumped back out of shick but soon composed himself

"Shh, shh it's ok just breathe Sammie, just breathe, you're safe sweetheart" he soothed as Sammie cryed and coughed in his arms "Jack!" he called and in a flash Jack had sprinted into the bay and had Sammie in his arms once more savouring the moment he felt her warm breath against his skin

"Jack" she cried

"Hey, it's ok" he soothed

"I'm sorry" she cried harder now

"No i'm the one who should be sorry. I believe you Sammie and i will never doubt you again" he said kissing the top of her head avoiding thw wound "But now you have to end this all"

"How?" she said sniffling as she pressed her self into Jacks body

"You have to face your past" he said holding her tight in his arms to protect her from whatever this thing was that wanted her. Now was the time to end it. Sammie was gonig to be set free but first she had to face her demons and face up to the lif she had once known.


	6. Who's she?

"I don't understand" Sammie cried into Jack harder

"Sammie this thing isn't your mother, when we were back at the docks that thing which bit you was an alien parasite. It mixed with your energy chanelling ability and brought a memory to life but changed" Jack said holding her tight

"But why me?" she cried "Why wont it leave me alone"

"I don't know but i have a plan and after that it's going to go" Jack said softly

"What do i have to do then?" she asked looking up at the others

"You have to face it Sammie" Owen said "And when you confront it, it'll release it's hold because it plays on your memories"

"Fine lets do it" she said weakly

And with Ianto and Jack's help she walked over to the centre of the hub and stood there shaking slighty

"Now what?" she said looking worried

"We wait..." jack said looking around

A few seconds later a cool breeze whipped around the hub and the energy readers that Toshiko had set up were going off the scale.Sammie closed her eyes and when she opened them a crack she saw it stnading in front of her.

At first glance it looked like her mother and she stepped towards it almost as if in a trance. But she heard Jack calling out to her

"Sammie whatever you feel for this tihng i promise you it's not your mother!, Emma's gone Sammie and this thing is not her. She can't come back Sammie but don't let this thing ruin your memory of her"

"But Jack..." she said getting closer to it

"Sammie your mum would never hurt you would she? And this thing has caused so much pain and misery to your life. It's not Emma. And i know that deep down in your heart you know that's true Sammie"

Sammie broke her gaze away from the thing and turned to look at Jack. She slowly nodded and turned back towards the creature

"You're not my mum" she said and she saw the creature writhe in agony "You're not my mum so leave me alone, my mum would never hurt me and although she might be dead she's never left me inside here" she said pointing to her heart "And no matter how hard you try you will never change my memories of her because people only really die when you loose their memory and i will never forget about her. ever!" Sammie was shouting now.

The creature lunged for her and stuck out a ghostly hand towards her hand. Sammie was so entranced she didn't move in time and the nest thing she knew was that there was a swimming darkness before her eyes and then she was falling deeper and deeper into a black pit of nothingness.

Sammie groggily opened her eyes and saw she was back in her room. She turned her head to the side and saw Jack was sitting on a chair holding her hand tight.He was asleep at the moment and Sammie guessed she must have been unconcious for a while. She wiggled her fingers in his hand and he woke with a start. He blinkedceseveral times for it seemed he was shocked to see her awake.

He looked down at her and smiled before saying "Welcome back" with tears running down his face

"Is it gone?" she asked

"Yeah it's gone Sammie right after you passed out it vainhsed taking any trace of it away"

"How're you feeling?" Owen said walking into her room

"Does no one ever knock" she said in an exhapserated tone

"Oh so you're well enough to moan so i think you'll live" Owen smiled

Sammie rolled her head to her bedside table and looking at a photo in a frame for a few seconds before asking "Who's that?"

"Who?"

"That woman?" she said pointing to her mother

"Sammie that's your mum" Jack said looking worried

"No...i'd remember my own mother Jack" she smiled before turning back to him

"Sammie..."

"Jack please that's not my mum, i have no memries of that woman"

Owen looked up startled and turned to Sammie "Would you mind if me and Jack had a quick word outside, you need to get some rest anyway" and she nodded so they walked outside her room

"What was that? She doesn't remember Emma..."

"But she remembers us and Torchwood..."

"Jack this is impossible..."

"No. Owen the last thing she said before that thing touched her was that she was never going to forget about Emma ever"

"What does that mean?"

"That parasite was dying and when Sammie was shouting she was full of emotion which is the strongest kind of energy. The parasite was dying so it took the olny thing that it could;Sammie's strongest memory at that point"

"Which was that of her mother" Owen said sighing "That's why she didn't recognise her. She doesn't remember her mother but otherwise she's fine"

"Those memories are wiped fover, it's just like the existing ghost of Emma that Sammie was keeping in her heart has gone now and she doesn't remember a thing about Emma" Jack said

Owen and Jack looked in on Sammie who was still looking at the picture with a puzzled expression on her face. If there was one thing that Sammie had proved to them was that memories are important and if you have those you will never need to be alone again.


End file.
